No More, No Less
by shitakemushrooms
Summary: She never expected this... not in the slightest bit. shikasaku.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaiminer: I do not own Naruto...

Chapter 1- The Turning Tide

The wind that night howled ominously; even more ominously than previous nights. The earth had sensed something misplaced in the atmosphere and responded with profound mysterious cries. Pink, luminous strands were intertwined in the atmosphere's kneading fingers as they sporadically entangled the locks of hair. Glassy pine orbs surveyed the peaceful, resting village, and with one last sullen glance, the pink head of hair whirled around. Soon, the figure slowly shrunk within the sight lines of the resting village.

_7 years later_

Superiority and pride lay within the dust of the prison cell. It was a tragedy really, that she was now ensnared within four cold pitiless walls without the company of her favorite companion, alcohol. Tsunade sat, with her spinal column against the stony wall, dazed and depleted. Hollow footsteps resonating from outside the prison cell roused the woman from her state as her subconscious fell back into the state of consciousness. The footsteps now were no longer hollow as the door creaked open allowing a sliver of eerie light to enter.

A sickening familiar laugh ricochet throughout the flinty atmosphere. The laughter slowly died out, but the repulsive voice remained. "Tsunade," it spoke with the sordid music it had used before, "why look so down? You do not enjoy my hospitality?"

A low and sarcastic chuckle was produced from the woman. Raising her eyes which now vehemently held disgust and fury, she spat, "Orochimaru, you have Konoha already… What more do you want!" All she received was another sickening grin, "Release them!"

Calm, comedic, and mocking he replied, "I suppose I should think of the years that we've been teammates and with respect to you, release your precious ANBU…. But… I cannot. You see, I still need the password into the vault in order to access those forbidden jutsu that I dearly desire."

The hokage's voice rose to a higher octave, "As long as there's Konoha shinobi left fighting out there, you will NEVER break us down."

"Well, I suppose you will be more willing if Jiraiya were 'persuaded'" he finished in a slithery grotesque tone.

"You think I'll give in to you and betray my village for JIRAIYA!"

"I suppose you think I am an idiot… I was wondering… why you're still here when breaking those chains would be a simple matter to you…" He had her where he wanted her, and she knew it. The snake sannin left, leaving the echoing thud of the door being closed as the sound of his footsteps gradually dissipated. Unfortunately, he was right. She knew Jiraiya was still within his clutches, and she knew she could not afford to make a rash move. Hanging her head in desperation, she could do no more but once again drift off to an alternate reality.

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The hours slowly trickled by as Tsunade found that she rather enjoyed the alternate reality her subconscious had invented for her. She found the tranquility to be much more pleasant than the blood thirsty war her shinobi was waging outside. This war had already been lost, and she knew that those remaining on the outside were combating in a futile battle. The rookie nine, who once had been the future of Konoha, were now imprisoned and tortured on a daily basis.

Though Tsunade knew the sliver of hope and fire still remained within the hearts of the shinobi, she no longer found that courage. Naruto was dead. She could not live in denial. She knew it all too well. The fire that once existed in her soul simmered down to a mere ember that could be snuffed out at any given moment of the day. Now, she placed her hope in her knowledge of Konoha's vault password to save Jiraiya and possibly Konoha. She took a deep breath, and as soon as she glanced up, Tsunade saw that the handle of the prison door was being fondled with from the outside.

Slowly, the door creaked open once again and a pair of soft footsteps filled the hokage's eardrum. These footsteps would've never been detected if one wasn't a skilled, elite shinobi. "What do you want? Unless you've come to bring me sake, go away."

A soft feminine chuckle reached the woman's ears. The voice was familiar; so familiar that the blond woman slowly raised her eyes. A soft gasp filled the prison cell. The dark figure stood valiantly before the hokage. Its eyes glistened with mischief as a smile made its way upon its face. Silence encompassed the small prison cell and finally, the Godaime spoke, "Long time no see…Sakura."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2- Shikamaru

The grin set upon her face was undeniable; as if she had never left, as if she'd been there all those years after she walked out on the people that loved her; the people she loved. Tsunade honestly had never been more shocked, stunned, and bewildered to see her beloved apprentice standing right before her eyes. 'Long time no see…."she thought. Indeed, it was a long time. It had been TOO long.

Sakura's bold features, dazzling emerald eyes and vivacious pink hair, stood out despite the dark prison cell. Her smile faded as soon as she absorbed the state her shisou was in, but she remained composed. "Shisou…I missed you," she finished in a grin.

"Are you SURE you still remember your poor shisou here? I mean, leaving without a word goodbye?"

The pink-haired woman's body language suddenly displayed a sense of discomfort. "Well… if I told you, I think you would've stopped me," she stuttered uncomfortably.

"You're damn right I would've…" Both teacher and student stood there in a comfortable silence. Out of the blue, they both broke into a mild fit of laughter.

As Sakura composed herself, her expression grew serious. "So… Shisou, would you care to explain this mess?"

"Eh…" Tsunade gestured waving off her apprentice's question. Sakura crouched down near her mentor and slung an arm across her shoulders.

"Well…we can talk later. Up you go." When Tsunade did not make an effort to stand, Sakura eyed her questionably.

"Sakura… I can't go.'

Sakura's eyes now exhibited a mild sense of shock. She cleared her throat. "Well… I guess I can leave you here and waste all my effort breaking in here," she said with a smile, "But… may I ask you… why the hell NOT?"

Tsunade's eyes widened at her apprentice's use of inappropriate language. "My my, Sakura, you've gotten touchy. But… I can answer your question. It's because I can't leave Jiraiya here."

Contemplation spread on her apprentice's face. Then, she simply replied, "Ok."

"Ok? Really? No questions?"

"I said ok," Tsunade broke into another grin, "BUT, can you tell me who I should save that will get all of us out of this mess?"

Tsunade hung her head, eyes glued to the floor in concentration. Slowly, raising her eyes to meet Sakura's she replied sweetly, "Shikamaru." Sakura stood and made her way towards the prison cell door. "Wait," Sakura's head slowly revolved to meet Tsunade's eyes once again, "how'd you know what happened?"

Smiling, she responded, "I heard two Sound spies talking about it outside the village." Then, she was gone. The door to the prison cell remained closed.

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Shikamaru's body remained slung sloppily across the blood soaked, cold, and hard ground for the past hour. He deemed it too troublesome to actually get up and rearrange his body so that his back was against the prison wall. Fresh wounds marred his slim, muscular body causing shooting pain through his limbs with every breath or minute movement. Still, the lazy expression on his face seemed to remain. "Still lazy as always, I suppose…" the voice spoke from the shadowed corner of the prison cell.

The shock caused Shikamaru to jerk his head up slightly to face whoever or whatever hiding within the confines of the shadows that even he could not sense. Stepping out of the shadows, Sakura's amused expression caught his once lazy eyes. He blinked a couple of times, not quite believing what or who he was seeing.

"S-Sakura?" His voice wavered slightly. She smiled in response. The next thing he knew, he was being slung easily over her right shoulder. Really, he was surprised. He didn't think she could carry him. "Sakura…w-what are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm breaking you out," she replied now somewhat amused.

"What about the others?" Sakura, now, had managed to silently unlock the door by picking the lock with a strand of her chakra.

"Tsunade only instructed me to save you."

"You've seen Tsunade? How is she?"

She chuckled. "Don't worry. She's in better condition than you are."

"I see. That's very creative by the way, picking the lock like that."

"Chakra control and manipulation is every medic's basic skill," she replied with a smile. Strolling down the corridor swiftly and gracefully, Shikamaru was surprised that they had yet to encounter an enemy. "I bet you're wondering why it's so empty here, huh?"

He sniggered quietly, "Yes, I was."

"Well… I knocked them all out before I strolled in here."

"Ah.. I see. You didn't encounter Orochimaru?"

"Oh, he's not here now. He's out and about around the village surveying the war. I probably wouldn't be able to stroll in here with THIS MUCH EASE if he was indeed here."

"Smart."

"I try." In a flat minute, they were out of enemy lines. Shikamaru let out a breath and inhaled the fresh unconfined air.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Simple

Shikamaru was glad to be liberated from his stony confinement despite the fresh painful wounds that caused him wince with every slight vibration. As Sakura gently placed him against a tree, her eyes scrutinized his form. She bent down so that face was inches away from his and placed her hands around his waist to rest on his back. This caused our brilliant strategist to jerk unexpectedly.

"Relax," she whispered. He suddenly realized what she was doing as the chakra from her hands slowly worked on his back. Shikamaru, in fact, had quite a large gash that covered more than half of his back. If she had asked him to move from his current position, the pain would've been unbearable. Finding their close proximity to be quite uncomfortable, he drifted off into a dreamless slumber.

Hours later, Shikamaru's eyes fluttered open to find a pink-haired kounichi in deep slumber resting on the tree across of him. His eyes slowly surveyed her. He wondered where she'd been all these years. He noticed then that she silently stirred in her sleep and found that this very moment, he could not take his eyes off of her. Sure, he always thought she was attractive, but it was this very moment that he noticed the angelic innocence that he had missed all these years. A couple of strands of her pink hair had fallen out of the bun that her hair was placed in adding a graceful quality to her tranquil presence.

As Shikamaru started to move towards her in annoyance to the stray strand of hair falling on her face, he realized that he was completely healed. His body, that only hours ago was marred with all different kinds of gashes and infected wounds, was clear. It was the slight sound of his movement that Sakura's eyes flashed dangerously open. She noticed the man examining his arms and legs and realized that it was just Shikamaru.

Glancing up, he met Sakura's emerald eyes, "I'm sorry for waking you. I'm sure you must be tired after working on my wounds."

"No, it's not a problem," she said with a smile. There was a comfortable silence between the two shinobi.

"Sakura," his tone suddenly transitioned from mild to semi-serious, "where have you been all these years?"

It's not as if she dreaded this question. She just didn't want to explain herself. The truth was, she couldn't justify anything. But now, he addressed the issue directly, and she had to be adult about it or she could just choose to not answer. She knew she had no choice, "I've been traveling the world."

"I see. Have you been training under anyone?"

"No, why?"

"No reason," he paused for a second, "it's just… you've improved." There was a sudden breathtaking smile plastered upon her angelic face that Shikamaru, at that very moment realized exactly how beautiful she truly was. Suddenly, her expression turned grim causing Shikamaru to wish she would remain angelically smiling.

"There are things….things you learn when you see too much," she spoke between pauses. Her tone was tired and lost the life he once knew she had.   
"What happened? Why'd you leave?" Here is was, THIS was the question she dreaded.

"I have my reasons." With that she stood, and observed her surroundings. "We're safe here for the meanwhile. They're too busy with the war to focus on you anyway. As long as they still have Tsunade, they can care less." She turned to Shikamaru, "How'd this happen?"

Shikamaru merely shrugged and replied, "Sasuke."

"I see. So he played the traitor again?" She received a nod, "How did it happen?"

With a sigh, Shikamaru answered, "He came back. We all thought he had changed. I guess we were wrong. Well, obviously considering our predicament." He expected her to cry, or at least react strongly like she would when they were still young. Instead, all she did was hold an impassive expression while bending down and gesturing him to shift over. With her back against the tree, she sighed.

"Figures." This shocked Shikamaru.

"You don't love him anymore?"

She just simply replied, "No." There was a slight pause as she resumed, "Look, there are things that you understand when you get older, and love is definitely one of those things."

He nodded with understanding, "I see. You do know that…we might have to kill him…." She nodded. Shikamaru was a smart cookie, and he knew that she understood all too well.

"If he has to die, then I suppose there's nothing we could do about it, even if we're the ones that have to kill him. It's not our decision whether he lives or not. We don't have a choice."

"You've grown."

"Like I said… there are things you acquire when you've seen too much."

Another comfortable silence accompanied the atmosphere. Shikamaru decided at this very moment to smash the layer of glass that had held it together. "You never answered my question. Why'd you leave?"

With a sigh, she answered, "I needed to get away from the village for awhile. It wasn't because he left, it was because I just felt like I needed to do something for myself. I know what I did was selfish, but now I don't think it matters anymore."

"Naruto's dead."

This statement roused anger and alarm in the kounichi, "What!"

"Don't worry, it wasn't because of you though. He seemed to understand though. Somehow, the idiot seemed to stay calm after he received the news. It was as if he was expecting it."

"I see. He is indeed Konoha's best shinobi at surprising people. I thought he was going to tear villages apart to look for me."

"Well, he died defending the village. I don't know if I should tell you this, but…"

"Sasuke, right?" They both paused and looked at each other for a moment.

Shikamaru replied flabbergasted, "H-How'd you know?"

"I don't know," she seemed to contemplate her next reply, "I just KNEW."

"I see we have gotten wise in our old age, now have we?" He received a smack on the arm for this comment.

Rubbing the bruise that was forming, he scowled. "I'm the same age as you are!"

"Just kidding," he said raising but hands up. They sat like that for awhile, but there was one question that was still on his mind, "Did you miss us?"

"Are you trying to ask me if I missed YOU?"

"How troublesome."

She chuckled a in a sweet and delightful tone, "Yes, I did." With that, he smiled.

"So what should our next plan be?"

"I don't know Shikamaru. I should be asking YOU that."

He laughed. "Okay, I suppose we should first go to Suna to call upon reinforcements from the Kazekage."

"I'm right ahead of you. Let's go." She grabbed Shikamaru's hand in an effort to pull him to his feet. Maybe she didn't know her own strength but the next thing they knew, she was pinned to the ground under Shikamaru's heavy weight. She shifted underneath, and once Shikamaru realized the position they were in, he immediately deemed it necessary, no matter how troublesome it was, to immediately move. Unfortunately, he found that no matter how he tried to move, he couldn't. His eyes were caught within Sakura's emerald orbs. It was this moment, that he saw the hidden tear that had surfaced. Within that second, he found that she had wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him towards her. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Tch. How troublesome." Whether he deemed it troublesome or not, he understood. He let her hold onto him as he got lost in her eyes. It was after a couple of minutes when he realized how warm her breath really was, and how sweet and delicious she smelled. He knew he probably shouldn't have did what he did, but it was there that he kissed her tenderly on her cheek. This shocked the poor girl. But immediately realizing what position they had been stuck in for the better part of the hour, she pushed him off.

With an impassive and hollow tone, she instructed, "Let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4-Nothing

He knew it had been his fault. "How troublesome…" he simply thought. It had been like this for the past two days. The tension that wove itself into the unbreakable silence was slightly unbearable. Glancing at Sakura, he saw that she managed to avoid all unnecessary contact with him. All in all, the tension was driving him mad. If he didn't soon do something about it, he was indeed going to lose it.

Sakura would subconsciously avoid his eyes whenever she caught him looking at her. Consequently, he would avoid her eyes. Not a single word was uttered ever since they started their journey. The weather was irritable. The heat caused not only the rise in tension, but the need for conversation. Obviously, that wasn't going to happen anything soon. "Idiot," he thought to himself, "why did I do that…" Shikamaru understood he was a genius, in fact. What he couldn't seem to fathom was why he kissed her. It wasn't as if he couldn't control himself. He just in that moment felt like she had exposed a part of herself to him. He didn't mean anything by it. Sure, he was enraptured by her breathtaking beauty, but it wasn't as if he hadn't seen beautiful women before. I mean, he had Ino as teammate. He just assumed that he must have felt it necessary to show her that he did care about her, even if they barely spoke throughout the many years that he'd known her.

Nevertheless, they were both too stubborn. Sakura refused to fathom his actions. Shikamaru refused to fathom hers. It was just less troublesome that way. They just wouldn't speak to each other. That was all there was to it. Okay, maybe that was ludicrous. He knew that at some insane point and time, awkward conversation would have to partake. If it was going to be awkward either way, why not now? "eh… maybe tomorrow…" he thought.

They had been traveling for two days now and were only a couple of hours away from Suna. Throughout the silent journey, Shikamaru plotted out many possible outcomes of this war. He also wondered if the Kazekage would hold up to his end of the alliance with Konoha. Konoha and Suna engaged in much diplomacy. They were always presented as a team and addressed as one when they took place in political events. Sand owed Leaf much more than they could repay, not only for the first pseudo-war that Sound had catalyzed, but for the commerce that Konoha gave to Sand. Once their alliance was known throughout the other countries, Konoha commercial relationships were at once extended to Suna. Consequently, Suna'a profits doubled and a "Golden Age" in Suna arose from being in relation to Konoha.

Shikamaru wondered if Sound's invasion of Konoha would affect Suna. He knew that Suna had no idea of the current situation at hand. All messengers that were sent out were effectively eliminated by Sound. Konoha's position was not optimistic; not one bit. Tsunade, their Hokage, was captured. She was the direct symbol for Konoha's hope and he knew that because of her imprisonment, Konoha Shinobi would lose much of their power. Sound was the largest batch of sadists that Shikamaru had ever encountered in his entirely life. Their methods of torture were sick, twisted, and sadistic. Orochimaru, indeed, had problems…

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It wasn't until two hours later that they both caught sight of the towering sand-made buildings. The sun, by that time, had died down a little, and they were both very sure that the first thing they were both looking forward to was "water…". Upon arriving at the gates of Suna, they were stopped by Suna's Sand Shinobi guarding the entrance. "Maybe we hadn't thought this through…" thought Shikamaru. Sakura, being away from Konoha for so long did not have identification nor her headband to prove that she was from Konoha. Shikamaru, on the other hand, did not have both due to the unfortunate circumstances back home.

"I'm sorry, but if you have no identification, we cannot let you pass," spoke one shinobi decisively.

"We understand," replied Shikamaru, "but we are very well-acquainted with the Kazekage, himself. May we please see him?"

The shinobi speaking to Shikamaru glanced at his comrade and grumbled, "wait here…" The silence that ensued after seemed to last forever, that was until they caught sight of Gaara's vivacious maroon hair. He dismissed the two shinobi and they scampered away.

"Good to see you Shikamaru. What are you doing here?"

"I think we need to speak privately," Shikamaru spoke quietly. Gaara glanced at Sakura and it wasn't until then that he immediately realized who she was. He'd gotten wind from Temari years ago about the disappearance of the roseate-haired kounichi. This caused him to do a double-take. Sakura immediately noticed Gaara's inquisitive glance.

"Follow me," he spoke. Gaara led them throughout the village. The inhabitants seemed to be too engrossed in their afternoon routines that they did not even notice the appearance of two foreign shinobi traversing their village. Finally, they halted in front of a building that seemed to protrude higher into the sky than the other buildings. When they were safely secured within the confines of Gaara's air-conditioned office, it was then that Shikamaru disclosed the situation. The Kazekage listened intently, absorbing the information presented to him.

Once Shikamaru finished reciting the situation at hand, both Konoha shinobi gazed expectantly at the red-head. Gaara seemed to understand that Shikamaru did not trust him, but did not use this against him. "Suna will aid Konoha," smiles broke out within the room, "Shikamaru, I'd like to speak to Sakura alone for a moment." Shikamaru nodded dumbfounded and sauntered out the room. Once they heard the click of the last notches that signified the door was closed, Gaara began again, "I heard from Temari you left for quite a long time. Either I haven't received news that you've returned or I'm assuming you've returned because of this war."

"I see," she responded intently. Her expression was again nonchalant, "Yes, I have returned because Konoha is in mortal peril."

Gaara scrutinized the pink-haired woman's expression. She seemed content while answering him. "I see," he quietly responded, "well, I hope you two enjoy the village. We are planning to respond immediately. When my advisors and I have formulated a plan, I will inform you. Till then, I hope you won't worry too much and enjoy your time here."

"Thank you."

"Oh, and by the way, it's nice seeing you again." With that, Gaara sent a small smile towards Sakura. She returned the smile and turned to leave. She met Shikamaru outside and they proceeded towards the shinobi, under Gaara's orders, to set up a comfortable living situation for the two leaf shinobi. They found that they were assigned to a one room with double beds. The sand shinobi had apologized profusely for the inconvenience, but Sakura just assured him that it was okay. Shikamaru, on the other hand, didn't. He had been very uncomfortable with the idea of the two of them sharing a room together; well, at least after what he did. "Sooo troublesome," he thought.

After the sand shinobi left, the two stood uncomfortably in the middle of the room, uncertainty reigning. Sakura cleared her throat, "Hey, lets go take a walk around the village." Shikamaru swung his head around. They hadn't said a word to each other in two days, and here, she just asked him to go take a walk like nothing had taken place.

"Sure," he simply stated. With that, she simply strolled out the door and waited for Shikamaru to follow suit.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5-Unbelievable

"All 152 of our shinobi were found unconscious. There's no evidence to explain how Nara escaped. We assume someone broke in, but we can't seem to figure out how they busted the doors opened. There are no signs of resistance on the padlocks as if they had the key. It can't be an insider job, because Orochimaru would know. Half of our shinobi have regained consciousness, but cannot recall anything, and..."

As the Sound shinobi continued to report on the current findings of the day, scarlet eyes surveyed the entire scene. Not a shred of evidence was found on whom or what could've infiltrated the compound without being detected in the slightest bit. Sasuke had to admit, even he, himself couldn't have knocked out the Sound Five without putting up at least a little bit of resistance. Sasuke chuckled. He knew they must've been furious when they found that something had gotten passed their noses without them having realized it.

On the other hand, this thought terrified Sasuke. Somebody had the power to knock out 152 Sound shinobi, meaning that this particular individual had the power to KILL all 152 Sound shinobi. The most horrific portion of this information was that they had absolutely no idea who. Sasuke quickly dismissed the Sound shinobi reporting on the incident and stalked off to find evidence himself. There was absolutely no way this individual could've been so clean as to leave no trace at all. There HAD to be at least SOMETHING; something small that would explain this inexplicable phenomenon.

Sasuke was certain that the Nara was still within Konoha boundaries because shinobi on the outskirts had not yet reported any unusual occurrences; well at least he used to be certain. He found that he could not absorb this information. Who, besides Naruto, had the power to ridicule him as such? Frustration quickly evaporated and was quickly replaced with rage. In one millisecond, the entire east wall of the compound was shattered into rubble; that was about one mile of pure stone and cement.

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The village of Suna seemed comparatively normal according to Shikamaru's perspective. In fact, Suna's inhabitants seemed very closely related to Konoha. Indeed, the two villages were linked in such a way that some invisible force had caused not only commercial but subconscious ties to form between the two villages. The villages seemed deeply engrossed within their activities, while Sakura, pacing quietly beside him seemed deeply engrossed in watching their activity.

Shikamaru cleared his throat, "What's so interesting?"

Chuckling Sakura replied, "It's just that I haven't seen such benevolent interaction in such a long time, it's kind of nice to watch."

"I don't understand."

Sakura seemed hesitant responding, "It's just that I've seen so much blood shed that, it's actually nice to see people get along in a village."

"I see," he just pretended to comprehend what she said. He really had no clue. She said she traveled the world, but she never specified where. She never stated what she had been doing all those years. He just thought it would be too troublesome to push the subject.

"Are you hungry?" she asked reverting her gaze from the villagers to him.

It was then that Shikamaru realized that he hadn't consumed any means of nutrition for quite some time. He instantly came to the realization that he in fact was starving. "Very much so," he responded desperately.

She laughed. The next thing Sakura knew, they were waiting in a table at a nearby restaurant stand. Their orders were placed and both Konoha shinobi were very impatient. Sakura, indeed, had been also very famished. Both shinobi sat expecting their food to come out at any given moment. It was humorous, in fact, to see the two dive into their bowls at the slightest sight and smell of food. This caused many villagers to stare at the strange foreign shinobi devouring their meals like there was no tomorrow.

That afternoon, Sakura and Shikamaru could be seen strolling down the marketplace in a comfortable silence, enjoying the soft sandy breeze. It seemed that after their scandalous display at the restaurant stand, the tension between the two had subsided. Landing with a loud thump before them was Gaara's sister, herself, with a large smile plastered upon her ridiculously gorgeous face. "My, my, my, well if it isn't Shikamaru…"

"Hello to you too, Temari," Shikamaru greeted her with a scowl. Temari glanced at Shikamaru's companion to come to realize that she was indeed, Sakura.

"Sakura…" As soon as the words left her lips, Temari knew she'd have to explain herself to the pink-haired kounichi. "I'm sorry, it's just… well…I heard that….you were gone for quite some time…"

"Oh, it's okay. Don't worry about it," Sakura spoke, words laced in a smile.

"So, what are you two doing here?"

Shikamaru took a moment to consider his reciprocation. "I think you should speak to Gaara before either of us answers your question."

"I see… This isn't just any normal diplomatic mission then, I assume?"

"Correct."

"Well then, I'm going to be on my way to visit my dear brother. See ya." Before turning to dash towards the Kazekage's office, she stepped forward embracing Sakura in a tight hug, "Nice seeing you again."

A little taken back, Sakura genuinely smiled. "You too." With a sweep of her feet, Temari was off. Shikamaru stared at the direction of her departure with a hint of remorse within his eyes.

"You guys dated huh?" Sakura spoke, now somewhat amused.

"Uh…yeah. How'd you know?"

"You seem to be somewhat…remorseful."

"Women…" Shikamaru commented.

"Now, now, don't go blaming all your masculine faults on the opposite sex. If you want her back, you should go for it. But, if you hadn't notice, she's engaged." This caused the brilliant genius to jerk in alarm.

"What?" he asked exasperatedly.

Sakura raised her hand to his face and wiggled her ring finger. "And some say that you're brilliant."

He grumbled. "How troublesome…." With that, the strategist stalked off mumbling profanities leaving Sakura giggling in pursuit.

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There was no way that it was her. Sasuke could not believe it unless he saw it. There was no way that she had knocked out 152 Sound shinobi, infiltrated a heavily guarded and armed compound, rescued Nara Shikamaru, and avoided capture. "There was just no fucking way…" he thought. But the evidence was there. He had somehow managed to stumble on a small stain of blood at the foot of a large oak tree. Examining the blood, there was no mistake that it was her chakra signature. She was the one that healed Shikamaru. He was certain of it. Her chakra was unmistakable. He just couldn't damn well believe in this unnatural event. Uchiha Sasuke, last standing survivor of the Uchiha clan, could not believe that he'd been outranked by a woman, not to mention one whom he thought would never amount to anything…

"I kind of feel bad for you, Shika. I know you must be burning up with anger on the inside," she mocked as her face contorted into an expression resembling a bloated fish. She let the air out of her cheeks with a pop. Sakura had now managed to shorten Shikamaru's very complex name to two cute syllables, knowing this would annoy him to no extent.

Shikamaru stood, back faced towards Sakura, and outwardly brooded. He indeed was discouraged, more so that now he'd found that his ex-girlfriend was now engaged. He'd be damn if he didn't find out which bastard she was engaged to. Glancing up, Shikamaru found that Sakura was now in front of him with a bemused expression drawn within her emerald orbs.

"What?" he demanded, tone filled with much hostility.

"Oh nothing…" she cued, "I just thinks it's cute how you're JEALOUS."

"How troublesome…" She merely giggled.

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He thought this had to be some cruel joke. The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous the notion sounded. It HAD to be someone else, anybody else. Sasuke had finally reached the brink of his own sanity. Storming out of his chambers, he grabbed the prison keys and proceeded down the hallway.

It was at the moment that Tsunade met the Uchiha's eyes, that she immediately figured out what he was there for. "I suppose you want to know who broke Nara out?"

"Tell me."

"You already have the answer, why continue to ask?"

Sasuke seemed impatient now. "I just need validation."

The hokage laughed with distain. "Oh, you need more than validation. But okay, I'll give you your supposed validation. Yes, it was Sakura."

That was all he needed, but somehow, he didn't seem satisfied. "You're a liar."

Tsunade chuckled. "It seems to me that you can't quite believe that my beloved apprentice has indeed pulled a fast one over your head. Correct?"

"You are lying."

"If I am lying, and you know that I am lying, how come you are still here?"

"Because there is no possible way that someone like her could possibly pull this off," he responded harshly.

"Believe whatever you want to believe." That was all he needed to send a fist through the stone wall….

"You're in distress…"

"Shut up," he was now gone.

---------------------------

"Let's go see Gaara. He'll know who's ass you should kick," Sakura slyly jibed.

"How troublesome…"

"I think that's the tenth time you've said that today," she spoke again amused.

Within the next second, Shikamaru grabbed Sakura by the hand, then proceeded to drag her towards Gaara's office. She chuckled the whole way. Never in his life had he ever made such a rash move, but there they were standing outside Gaara's office for the second time that day, contemplating if whether he should knock or not.

It was in this moment that Sakura decided, "Why not? Let's give him a nudge."

"Come in," came the faint voice from behind the barricade…..


End file.
